Tilapia are fish species that are fresh water cichlids but some species are described as being eurhyaline, a term which means that they can tolerate and adapt to different water salinity levels under certain conditions including sea water. It is also identified under a number of different generic names; it can be called as “carpe” in West Africa, “St. Peter’s Fish” in Israel, “Bream” in South Africa, “Mojarra” in Latin America and, of course, under many different local names.

There are some 80 species of tilapia where almost all of them are of African origin and a few species come from Israeli and Jordanian geographic regions. From all of the species, only few possess the characteristics required for commercial fish farming.

Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) is a cheap but tasty fresh-water fish and is currently the fresh water counterpart of “galunggong” as the fish of the masses. It is one of the extensively cultured fish in the country's inland water. It has gained ground in the Philippine fishery production industry because of its favorable biological characteristics. The fish is widely distributed and cultured for food. The tilapia industry is promising a good market as consumption and demand continuously increases. Aside from this, a low initial capital investment is required for small scale producers.

The principal practical reasons for farming tilapia are:

*Simple reproduction/breeding processes
*Rapid growth rate
*Good tolerance to high stocking densities and intensive rearing conditions
*Resistance to physical handling